Question for Johnny Northside Supporters...

For all the Johnny Northside a.k.a. John Hoff supporters who have stood by him and stated on various websites and blogs that you think John Hoff is a great asset to the community and he is an activist that is clearly doing good... I ask you the following question.

As few of you probably know, John Hoff has a degree in Law. He has stated in past interviews how he wants to open offices that specialize in "Lesbian issues, International Space Law and Freedom of Information." While those may be on the back burner for now, I wondered to myself, "Here is a guy who has a degree in Law and all he needs to do is pass the State Bar exam to become an Attorney. I can't begin to count the ways he could contribute to the community in BIG ways if he were an attorney doing legal work "pro bono" (meaning he does it for free).
However, not only has he made no indication of using his law degree to do some good for the community, he actually detracts from the community and legal system because, he has filed motions for "In Forma Pauperis" in his recent child support case (among others). A recent post dedicated to this explains what In Forma Pauperis is but, in short it means that John admits he does not have enough money to hire legal representation but, he has the right to a fair trial. The court system then waives his legal fees.

Getting to my question now.... Do you feel John Hoff really has the communities best interests in mind rather than himself? A Law degree that was obtained using any number of student loans and grants but, John won't use that degree to give back to the community.
Side note: To date, John has yet to pay his 2008 or 2009 property taxes either.

Public activist? Or Public... Leech?

Something out of... Something: Minneapolis Settles Law Suit Vs. SunTrust Mortgage.

In the comments section in the previous post, the first comment (Anonymous of course) claimed I am always trying to make "Something out of nothing" with regards to the city settling a law suit against SunTrust Mortgage. That suit stemmed from the trumped up law suit the city had filed against TJ Waconia where Mayor Rybak claimed, "This is personal."

A quick rundown on the FACTS: (don't worry, I always post links to back them up)

The city files a law suit against TJ Waconia to gain control over 140+ TJ Waconia owned properties. The city announces and the StarTribune's Steve Brandt report that the city won their case and that they were now in control of those properties.
OOOPS!!!

The city's attorneys who filed the suit never bothered to have a title search done to see who actually owned the houses. They merely went to the County site which still listed TJ Waconia as the owners but, all of the houses had already been foreclosed and were owned by SunTrust Mortgage.
The blatant mistake the attorneys made was that they didn't bother to inform SunTrust of the suit. Why? Well had they done that, they would not have been able to have Rybak do the bullshit press conference to announce the law suit.

SunTrust countered the law suit and the city was caught red-handed. They SCREWED UP! Where was the press conference to tell the public that they were wrong?

So, here is the details to the settlement or what the city had to do to buy their way out of the mess that they got themselves into with SunTrust Mortgage. Note that TJ Waconia is no where to be found in the settlement because... They were not involved at that point.
I sure hope that anonymous commenter comes back to question this proof but, just like John Hoff a.k.a. Johnny Northside would say, "Do as I say, NOT as I do."

Here is the part that I have copied for the readers as well as the link to the site.
____________________

http://www.finance-commerce.com/publicnotices.cfm?mode=mpls&display=html&id=279
MOTION


Lilligren moved to approve partial settlement of the case of City of Minneapolis, et al. v. T.J. Waconia, et al., Hennepin County Court File No. 27-CV-08-7880 by approving settlement of claims against SunTrust Mortgage, Inc. (“SunTrust”) according to terms that substantially comply with the following:

A. SunTrust, shall agree to sell to the Greater Metropolitan Housing Corporation 48 real properties either held or serviced by SunTrust (“GMHC”) that are subject to the jurisdiction of the Hennepin County District Court or the Court-appointed administrator.

B. That SunTrust will sell 30 certain listed properties at its list price less ten percent discount.
C. That SunTrust has three properties under contract with third parties. In the event those sales do not occur SunTrust will sell to GMHC at ten percent off list price.

D. That SunTrust will sell 15 certain properties when they become available for sale at their list price less twelve percent.

E. That SunTrust shall make a payment of $75,000.00 to the City of Minneapolis; $50,000.00 to be payable to the Housing Maintenance Code Revolving Repair Fund for Tenant Remedies Actions; and, $25,000.00 to be applied toward the Inspection Division for pending or levied special assessments.

F. That SunTrust will agree to dismiss any appeals it has in the above-captioned lawsuit; that Plaintiffs will dismiss their claims against SunTrust but the District Court shall return jurisdiction over certain properties for the sole purpose of ensuring that certain properties not be sold to GMHC shall be remediated of existing code violations prior to sale.
G. That Plaintiffs shall release any notices of lis pendens that were filed in the lawsuit relating to properties owned or serviced by SunTrust.
H. That the City Attorney is further authorized to execute any documents necessary to effectuate the settlement.
I. That the proper City officials are authorized to waive any pending or levied special assessments on properties owned or serviced by SunTrust that are purchased by GMHC. Seconded.
Adopted 10/10/2008.
Absent – Remington, Benson, Glidden.
___________________________________

I wonder if Steve Brandt will pick this info up and do an article about it? Hmmm I doubt it.

Question for the Hawthorne Hawkman

Note: The end of this post has been updated. An anonymous commenter on the JNS blog asked Jeff if he had seen this post. Jeff responded on that site rather than here so, I have copied his reply and pasted it here. To avoid any complaints, I am disclosing that he did not post his reply on this site. -Anti Johnny

On the JNS blog, Jeff Skrenes a.k.a. the Hawthorne Hawkman made it a point to highlight the applause that was given in response to the principal owners of TJ Waconia being in prison (even though the story is well past yesterday's news).

So the Mis-Adventures of Johnny Northside is reaching out to Jeff personally to answer the following (or at least offer an opinion).

The city council did such an amazing job of taking a stand against fraud as it has been reported in the case of TJ Waconia. The city filed a civil suit that was announced by Mayor Rybak and a few No-Mi neighborhoods joined that lawsuit as well (Hawthorne was not among them).
1) Can you comment on why the Hawthorne neighborhood did not join in that suit?
2) Can you offer an opinion on how the buyout the city agreed to with SunTrust Mortgage has had an impact on No-Mi?
Note: As part of the settlement between the city and SunTrust, the city bought a slew of properties from SunTrust's REO department that were previously owned by TJ Waconia for a mere 10 to 12% discount. The suit was dismissed soon after. TJ Waconia was not the focus of the suit soon after it was filed because, SunTrust Mortgage was not notified of the law suit prior to it being filed and announced. The significance of that was that SunTrust was actually the legal owners of most of the properties included in the suit as TJ Waconia had already lost them to foreclosure. SunTrust countered the law suit and the city ended up buying many of the houses from SunTrust because of it. It is undetermined how much money the city wasted by pursuing the civil suit and having to buy houses when a simple title search would have disclosed that SunTrust owned the houses and did not need to be put under city control as was reported.
Here is the link to the dismissed case. http://pa.courts.state.mn.us/CaseDetail.aspx?CaseID=1611672898 And here is the link to the related case that was also dismissed: http://pa.courts.state.mn.us/CaseDetail.aspx?CaseID=1611685450

It would be interesting to hear the housing director's take on this as he can see first hand at what impact the neighborhoods have had as a result of the city controlling so many houses (as a result of having to over pay for them, costing the taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more).
I hope Jeff will respond as this blog does not pick and choose which comments to allow. His comments are not only allowed but, welcomed.
______________________________

The Hawthorne Hawkman said... @ anon 1:34 - I read that post now, thanks. I will not respond on that particular site because it is entirely dedicated to smearing the name of a good friend and neighborhood advocate. The article posed two questions to me: why wasn't Hawthorne involved in the TJ Waconia suit, and then a second, very technical question.
Hawthorne was not involved in the TJ Waconia lawsuit because there were only a small handful of TJ Waconia properties in the Hawthorne neighborhood. That doesn't mean we weren't affected at all by Helgason's and Balko's fraud; only that the staff and volunteer resources that would have been used up if we'd been a plaintiff would not have brought the neighborhood a large enough return on that investment of time and energy. Plus, as demonstrated by the convictions, the city and the neighborhoods primarily affected clearly didn't need our help on this one.

As for the second question, since I was not involved directly, I will not venture into that territory. Mr. Watkins can ask any of the plaintiffs about that directly if he so chooses, or someone can post an answer here or on another blog.
January 25, 2010 8:57 AM
_______________________

(Anti-Johnny's follow up)
Jeff: First, let me thank you for answering (even though it was not directly on here.
Second, I would be thrilled to ask the 2nd question I posted directly to some of the Plaintiffs as you suggested (I have asked a handful already but, there has been no reply). Which site or forum would be the most appropriate place to ask the question? On a side note, I am wanting to know the answer to that question as it does go way beyond TJ Waconia and the mis-handling of that case. The fact that you did give a response to the question leads me to believe that you agree (at least somewhat) that the events that took place in that case, could very well have a significant effect with the neighborhoods and residents of No-Mi.

--Anti Johnny

John Hoff Makes City Council into a Game Show

It still amazes me how much messed up information is available online about John Hoff. Just last night I came across this article about John Hoff when he was a member of the Grand Forks City council (It was a short stint).

Here is what I found:

Grand Forks, N.D., City Council Members to Compete in California Game Show.

Grand Forks Herald (Grand Forks, ND)
July 27, 2000
 
Byline: Stephen J. Lee

ul. 27--John Hoff is going to Hollywood.


Friday, the new Grand Forks City Council member flies to LAX, expenses paid, to appear as a contestant on a new TV game show being taped for an autumn airing, Hoff told the Herald Wednesday in a news release.


Wednesday, Hoff dropped off at the Herald a rambling, five-page news release about it.


"Hollywood is a decadent place from the pit of hell. But it is full of money and possibility amid the nearly overwhelming evil, and it is my personal playground where I know people, or I get to know them, and I know how to hustle and make money."


He could win "up to $10,000," Hoff said in the news release.


Hoff is scheduled to be a contestant on a new syndicated game show airing on national television this fall, said Scott Smolev, the segment producer on "To Tell the Truth." That segment will be taped Saturday in the NBC Studios in Burbank, Calif.

I am going to guess here but, based on recent court records that show John has not paid his taxes or child support, I would say that Johnny Northside's game show career never took off. It wasn't long after this article was published that John Hoff was removed from the city council in a recall election. And yes, John fought that one every bit as hard as he did for the right to sit on Seattle sidewalks.
Don't take my word for it, though. Click the link below.
Grand Forkis City Council Member John Hoff

Johnny Northside Goes to Court for Child Support

Question: Should an individual who blogs in an attempt to clean up neighborhoods of crime, drugs, etc., be given a "pass" on having to pay property taxes and child support?

The more I look into John Hoff's past and present, I keep finding public and court records that say John Hoff is behind or does not pay as he is required.

On January 12, 2009, a hearing was held in a Dakota- West St. Paul court. John Hoff's ex-wife filed a "Notice of Hearing for Enforcement" on 8/7/09 and on Christmas eve, John filed an "Affidavit for Proceeding In Forma Pauperis." Johnny Northside rants about people living like "royalty" on his blog but, he fails to pay his child support, prompting his ex-wife to take him back to court. http://pa.courts.state.mn.us/CaseDetail.aspx?CaseID=760369299
For those who are not familiar with "In Forma Pauperis" this is the definition as published on dictionary/law.com:

"in forma pauperis
(in form-ah paw-purr-iss) adj. or adv. Latin for "in the form of a pauper," referring to a party to a lawsuit who gets filing fees waived by filing a declaration of lack of funds (has no money to pay). These declarations are most often found in divorces by young marrieds or poor defendants who have been sued."

This attitude by John makes me wonder if part of his revitalization plan includes funds collected for property taxes? Why think such a thing, you might ask? The following is a screen shot taken from the Hennepin county property website:

Note the text in red above.
I urge the Johnny Northside supporters to ask John about these two matters. Better yet, ask Don Samuels, Barb Johnson or even Mayor Rybak, if this type of behavior is acceptable by any citizen, regardless of whether they promote them on his blog.

The Other Side to Johnny Northside's Invasion into the Helgason House Photo Mission

This post is in response to the post about Jon Helgason's house, written by John Hoff for the Johnny Northside Blog. To read that post, click here http://adventuresofjohnnynorthside.blogspot.com/2009/12/jns-blog-exclusive-while-tj-waconia.html

I will paste some of John's comments and follow with comments of my own.

1. "First, I wanted to publish photos of the spectacular lake home where the family of Jon Helgason still resides"

AJ (Anti-Johnny)- For what purpose? The only person I recall ever asking to see pictures was John Hoff. Since the TJ Waconia case has "fallen off the radar" (from the same post), what was the reason for going to such an extreme to publish pictures?

2. "Second, I would like......mug shots of Helgason and Balko in their new Duluth prison digs."

AJ- Again... Why? If there is a reason OTHER than to attempt to annoy Jim Watkins (which, it doesn't), then what is the purpose?

3. It was a great time to take care of T.J. Waconia Blogger Goal Number One.

AJ- Goal number one? Can John elaborate on this? About the tresspassing, keep reading.

This is what John had to say after he saw the shed on the property.

4. What would you KEEP in a shed that size, I wonder? A recreational vehicle like the "rock star RV" owned by the Koenigs? Snowmobiles, motorcycles, three wheelers and other toys? A workshop to putz around with fun hobbies like, I don't know, maybe classic cars? In any case, the unearned affluence and in-your-face-God gluttony is stomach-turning. While our neighborhood struggles to throw off the cruel yoke of slumlords and their destructive influence, ill-gotten Northside gains appear to flow to exurbia, where a man might be in prison until 2016 but his family still lives like royalty.

AJ- Those comments are very bothersome. John made it clear by explaining all the detail of how he walked & crawled over frozen lake to get his pictures without tresspassing. He wondered what someone could keep in such a big shed and suggested maybe "classic cars" that I highlighted in red. John being the smug, arrogant person that he is, gave himself away with that comment. In other words, he lied about not tresspassing. You see, when I met Jon Helgason in 2003, I learned that he had a small collection of classic cars. Note that it was 2003... BEFORE TJ Waconia began to buy the majority of their properties. Back to the point of John Hoff lying about not tresspassing.
The neighbor that John spoke with knew more than they let on. In fact, they alerted the owner of the house that John Hoff had been there and why. The person currently residing there then went outside to look around. They found footprints all around the house and the property for that matter and they did not appear to be from any kid as the prints were adult sized.
So John lied about not tresspassing and I ask... Why? Why did he have to snoop around? He went on to say that it was one "giant step for journalism" but, how is that exactly?

Also, Helgason bought that house before 2003. John Hoff claimed it was the result of real estate fraud but, he has no idea when the he bought the house.
Further, what is the crime with ANYONE living like royalty? Last I heard, every American has the right to Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. Who is John Hoff to question and point a dirty finger at anyone for doing just that?

5. "The value of this property could do much to compensate the victims of the T.J. Waconia fraud. I'm just saying."
AJ- Just saying... What? That is exactly it... He is just saying things that he has no basis to say nor does he have the information to support it.
I say this because, John does not know when the house was bought or how much it cost to buy. John does not know the current value of the property either. He must me equity, right? If that is what he meant, then John is missing the boat on that because, equity is only worth something if you are able to tap into it and convert it to cash. When the market crashes, the equity goes with it. Just ask anyone who bought their house in 2005 or 2006 and ask how much they paid for their house and what it is worth now.
Finally, there is the issue of a MORTGAGE! Did John think the government would have just taken the house and told the lien holder that they are now wiped out so, they could sell the house and get all the profit from it? Nope, John doesn't know what the payoff of the house is nor does he know how much it might sell for if it were on the market.
If all of John's assumptions were in the interest of journalism, I ask again... How?

6. "SOMETHING IS VERY WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE."
AJ- That is the final sentence in the post by Johnny Northside and I agree completly!
Why a man in his 40's felt the need to go to such extremes so, he could post some pictures on his blog while assuming many things, making claims he had no factual basis for AND tresspassing in order to do it... Is beyond my comprehension.
John Hoff was wrong for doing what he did and I am told the person who lives at that address felt very violated and their privacy was definately invaded.
I am going to go out on a limb here and say that John Hoff had no reason to do what he did and he thought nothing of the rights or personal safety of the person who resides at that address by his actions and follow up post.
I am calling for a public apology to the resident who lives in that house as well as to the general public for doing such a thing and claiming it was a giant step for journalism.
As for the tresspassing, I hope the resident took pictures of the footprints in the snow that were found ON the property as they should be able to be matched with the footprints John Hoff supposedly left in the snow on top of the ice as one of his pictures showed.

The lesson learned from this? I don't know. John Hoff does whatever he wants to do and doesn't care about the effect it might have on anyone else as long as he is able to benefit from it and blog about it. Remember, he wrote two books about Dumpster Diving so, he is very used to digging into other peoples' lives and will use what he finds to his benefit. Think I am joking? Read his second book because, it is chilling to read what he has claimed to do with personal information he has obtained by snooping in people's trash.

Johnny Northside: Once a Hypocrite... Always a Hypocrite

One really has to wonder what supplement John Hoff feeds himself. His latest comment was a response to an article posted on the MplsMirror Click here and see Hoff's comments after article.
In his third paragraph, you could tell that he was really upset about the article when he said the following.

"you managed to screw up the facts and tread very near (or even directly into) defamation territory"

John ended his comments with the following.

"hanging out with losers and nobodies like Al Flowers and Jim Watkins? "

This guy has the mentality of a dictator because, he actually hints at legal action for someone saying things about him that are true yet, he slams people by calling them losers AND he does it while claiming he is a journalist???  Oh wait, he didn't do the name calling on his blog but, he did on someone else's so, he was free to say whatever he wanted.

Allow me to point out what he DID say on HIS blog...

"little greased-up prison errand-boy, Jim Watkins of Plano, Texas, a.k.a. "The DFW Mentor."

(Oh, yeah, I've got something special for Jim Watkins, by and by, "
If anyone should be throwing the defamation card around, it's Jim Watkins. He even announces his intention to retaliate. By the way, John was wrong with his statement as Jim Watkins hadn't lived in Plano for years.
 
John had this to say in the post where he posted pictures of what he claimed to be Helgason's house (even though it is owned by an LLC which John can't identify the owner) as he walked on the lake ice to get his picture...
"One small step for Johnny Northside, I thought...one giant leap for blog-based journalism."
Journalism??? What a hypocrite!
 
For those who may be reading this blog for the first time, please take some time to read past posts on this site. There is plenty of documentation posted where John bullies, threatens and makes statements as to what he will do to Jim Watkins if he didn't delete facts posted about him on this site. In one of his emails he threatened to "ruin" Jim Watkins if he didn't delete.
 
Remember folks, Johnny Northside was a city council member in Grand Forks, North Dakota and he was promptly removed from office for his antics.
Johnny Northside may have heard the saying, "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones." If you ask him if he is worried others will throw stones at his house, his answer would probably be, "My glass is bullet-proof."
Defamation! Give us a break!

Note to Mayor Rybak, Council Members Samuels & Hofstede: Look Who Is Really Kissing Your Ass

This blog has never been shy to bring attention to information about Johnny Northside to the public. Johnny keeps on blogging away while kissing major ass to those listed in the title of this post.

I invite you to read other posts on this blog so you can see who Johnny Northside a.k.a. John Hoff really is. Be sure to get a good look at the pictures of him as well because, it is obvious you may not know what he looks like since he is always behind you, kissing your ass.

After reading this, have a look at what others have to say...

misadventures-of-johnny-northside-judge-not-lest-ye-be-judged&catid=34:local-news&Itemid=103

When Will Minneapolis People Wise Up To John Hoff a.k.a. Johnny Northside?

This blog is now over one year old and there is no plans to go away. Past posts have listed links, info, court records, pictures, audio and direct quotes of John Hoff. All of them paint a picture of a selfish, egotistical, defiant person who shows a blatant disregard for anything or anyone that conflicts with his opinions.
Anyone who challenges him face public scrutiny and often times, humiliation if John can find any information on the person as he exploits them online. He claims it is his right under the Constitution to do so.

His blog has made him a local celebrity in north Minneapolis (NoMi) and all it has done is driven him to push the limits of what he can get away with.
Recently, he crawled across a frozen lake to take pictures of Jon Helgason's house of TJ Waconia. He claimed it was his house even though the tax records show it is owned by an LLC. Neighbors witnessed him snooping around the house and notified the owner. (Check back soon for a full post dedicated to this topic.)
The MisAdventures of Johnny Northside blog will be posting pictures of John's house in north Minneapolis to see how he likes the public knowing where he lives. Oh, the address is: 2226 Bryant Ave. N. in Minneapolis. (Source: City of Appleton, MN.)
John continually posts articles on his blog without verifying the validity or accuracy of his opinions or statements he claims are fact.
Have a look at what was written just days ago about him disrupting a recent hearing about an unsecured house in the neighborhood...

"Other community members used harsher language. John Hoff, (otherwise known as Johnny Northside) was at first asked to leave the meeting for videotaping, but he ignored that request. Later, Hoff spoke , and said that people were telling "big fat lies." Hoff called for a criminal report. "The corbels were smashed!" Hoff said. "Pauline's trunk was smashed." After pronouncing a swear word, Hoff was again asked to leave, and this time he did, shouting "Pauline's House will be a rallying cry for preservationists everywhere!""
(Source: TCDailyPlanet.net) Click here to read the full article... http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/news/2009/12/30/fjelde-house-gone-still-protected

Another website had a post from Jeff Skrenes who is the Hawthorne Neighborhood Housing Director and call himself the "Hawthorne Hawkman. Jeff is a personal friend of Hoff and is able to post articles on Hoff's blog, The Adventures of Johnny Northside.
Here is part of what Jeff posted on the matter.

"But it was John Hoff who made statements and was asked to leave.
I pretty much agreed with his statements, for the record, and my only issue was
that he blurred the line between himself as a media source and an activist."

The reason the last sentence was highlighted is because, John Hoff is currently being sued for comments made on his blog about an individual who was fired after Hoff slammed him on his blog. Hoff stands behind opinion that it is freedom of the press and therefore he can say what he wishes.

Make no mistake about John Hoff, better known as Johnny Northside. He is no journalist. John is nothing more than a trash talking, self serving extremist and activist. Check out some of his quotes on the net from one of his TWO books he authored on the topic of Dumpster Diving (Note: Published under his pen name of John Hoffman).
If I was a member of the Minneapolis City Council such as Don Samuels (whom Hoff boasts as his "friend"), I would do a little more research into the background of John Hoff.

John commented in a video clip in the trailer for the upcoming documentary movie, Johnny Northside Movie, that his father told him to stay close to his son. That advice has taken John to live in Seattle, Washington, Grand Forks, North Dakota and to his current home of Minneapolis. I wish John's ex-wife (Tina) would relocate again. It would be interesting to see if John could give up his celebrity status by moving to stay close to his son.
The people of Minneapolis would only be so lucky.